Conservative masquerade.(Correction Notice)

ITEM: Fox television program host Fred Barnes wrote in the Wall Street Journal for November 23 that President Bush "won't kowtow to the D.C. Establishment." The president, continued Mr. Barnes, "wants to impose a breathtakingly conservative agenda in his second term...."

ITEM: "Uncle Sam's big spending fling may be nearing an end," began an article in the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune for December 6. "President Bush and Congress," said the newspaper, "appear serious about slimming down large chunks of the federal government."

CORRECTION: Fiscal actions speak louder than frugal words and hollow symbolism--such as George Bush's having fewer state dinners than his predecessors, a largely empty gesture also applauded in the above Wall Street Journal piece. With the GOP in control of the House and Senate, President Bush has not vetoed a single spending bill. Meanwhile, based on the Bush administration's fiscal 2005 budget, federal outlays will rise about 29 percent from fiscal 2001 to 2005. Promised future "slimming" of government, even if it occurs, would represent nothing more than a smaller increase compared to the frenzied spending boosts of late.

The gargantuan spending bill signed into law by Mr. Bush on December 8 rolled nine of 13 appropriations bills into one $388 billion omnibus package because Congress refuses to finish its work on time. Various Establishment journals, including the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, gave this package rhetorical cover by praising its presumptive "new austerity" and "belt-tightening." It was ...